Skip to content

Paul Merson's Premier League predictions - Week 3

Soccer Saturday pundit tips wins for Arsenal, Man City, Southampton and West Ham

Image: Wenger: will he be smiling when his side face Villas-Boas' Tottenham?

Arsenal v Tottenham (3.30pm, Sun, Sky Sports 1 HD)

Cardiff v Everton

When Everton looked at the fixture list they must have thought they had a nice, easy game coming up here. West Ham beat Cardiff easily and they must have expected Man City to soften them up last week - but that wasn't the case. Instead, Cardiff will be buzzing. Everton haven't won yet and things are a bit up in the air for them at the moment. Everyone's asking if Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines are leaving and if they leave the club at the last minute and Roberto Martinez doesn't bring anyone in then things won't look good. I think Everton would settle for a draw here. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1

Man City v Hull

I didn't expect Man City to lose last week, so fair play to Cardiff. But you've got to say Man City were poor from set plays, their concentration levels weren't good enough and they let Cardiff back into the game when they should have gone on and won it easily. If they play like they did against Newcastle they'll be ok and you can look at it and say they've scored six goals in two games, but the worry is the three goals they've conceded. Hull had a great result last week. To have a player sent off very early and hold on to win the game is phenomenal. They'll be buzzing and I think they'll be happy with three points from their first three games. They've had a difficult start going away to Chelsea and away to Man City and I think Man City will win this one. PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0

Newcastle v Fulham

Newcastle didn't look like scoring in a month of Sundays against West Ham last week. Yoan Gouffran had a decent chance right at the end and people will say it was a sitter, but I felt it came at him very quickly. Still, they're yet to score and I think this will be another difficult game for them. Fulham had a good result against Sunderland on the opening day and Arsenal played well to beat them last week. I think if they can come away from the first three games with four points they'll be happy. I think this will be a draw. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1

Norwich v Southampton

Norwich will be disappointed with how their season is going. They played well against Everton and drew 2-2, but to lose to Hull when they've played with 10 men for a lorryload of the game is pretty poor. They'll be looking at this game to kick-start their season, but I think they're in a bit of trouble. Southampton had a great first result and probably thought they just had to turn up against Sunderland to win, but it didn't happen. I actually fancy them to win this game, despite that slip-up because I like the look of them this year. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-2

West Ham v Stoke

I'm doing this game on Soccer Saturday and I don't see there being too many goals at all. I think West Ham are very strong at home; I've said a few times before that I think they'll pick up a lot of points at Upton Park this year and it will be a tough place to go for a lot of teams. I fancy them to win this game. Stoke haven't been great in front of goal this season. They gave Crystal Palace a goal head-start last week and turned it around, but you don't want to be doing that away at West Ham. I think they'll lose this narrowly. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-0

West Brom v Swansea

I've done both of West Brom's games on Soccer Saturday this season and last week they were much better than the week before. They didn't look like scoring in the first half against Southampton, but were much more solid against Everton. They weren't expected to win that game, but it's a different story at home and they may have a problem taking the game to other teams. Swansea have had another busy week in Europe and that makes this difficult to call. I'm going for another draw because the players won't want to go into a two-week break on the back of a defeat. Nobody wants to lose this weekend and that can be said for a lot of teams and that's why I'm tipping so many draws this week. PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1

Around Sky